Why buy the Skoda Octavia?
If your priorities in a car are space and value, few mid-size hatchback or estate cars offer a better combination than the Skoda Octavia. It has a huge amount of passenger and boot space compared with most rivals and is available with a large range of engines that all give you excellent fuel economy. It’s also very comfortable, keenly priced and feels like it’ll last a long time.
Skoda Octavia range and updates
The current Skoda Octavia was introduced in 2020 – the fourth generation since the model made its debut in 1998. The Octavia has always offered a lot of space for a mid-size hatchback or estate, and has always been very competitively priced.
The current Octavia is available with petrol, diesel or plug-in hybrid (PHEV) power and manual or automatic gearboxes. Some models have four-wheel drive. There’s a broad spread of trim levels available, including the high-performance vRS.
The previous-generation Octavia, sold from 2012 to 2020, offers you largely the same options, though it’s not available with PHEV power and there’s a version of the estate called the Octavia Scout that has a higher ride height and some SUV-style design features.
Skoda Octavia tech and features
Every trim level available for the latest Octavia comes with a 10-inch touchscreen infotainment system supporting Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, DAB radio, Bluetooth, two-zone air con, cruise control and rear parking sensors. Many models also have sat nav, a digital driver’s display and front parking sensors. Older generations of Octavia have broadly the same features.
Skoda Octavia running costs and value
According to official figures, the latest Octavia can give average fuel economy of 36mpg to 56mpg with a petrol engine, 45mpg to 68mpg with a diesel or 176mpg to 282mpg with PHEV power. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are 117g/km to 181g/km for the petrol engines, 109g/km to 162g/km for the diesels and 22g/km to 36g/km for the PHEV. Those numbers apply to the Octavia Hatchback (estate models are a little less efficient).
Petrol and diesel models of the previous-generation Octavia give similar fuel economy and CO2 emissions figures.
Skoda Octavia vs rivals
Other mid-size cars worth considering include the Ford Focus, the Peugeot 308 and the Vauxhall Astra. The Octavia offers more boot space than any of those and is particularly good value for money.
